


No 13. Breathe In Breathe Out

by Smiley5494



Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Delayed Drowning, Drowning, Gen, Graphic Description, POV Second Person, This One Is Dark, Whumptober 2020, graphic description of death, no 13, very dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smiley5494/pseuds/Smiley5494
Summary: What if, when you slipped beneath the waves, you lived?And what if, when you lived, you drowned?It takes an eternity to die.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965595
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	No 13. Breathe In Breathe Out

**Author's Note:**

> prompt:
> 
> No 13. BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT  
>  **Delayed Drowning** | Chemical Pneumonia | Oxygen Mask
> 
> I gotta say, this one really stumped me. But I hammered this out and I'm very proud of it.

What if, when you slipped beneath the waves, you lived?

And what if, when you lived, you drowned?

You choke for breath surrounded by nothing but air. You drown on dry land. It is a fitting death, one born of contradictions. You always thought you would burn, it seems fitting that you drown, instead, gasping for breath. It will be over before you know it, and then all you will be is just another body set to return to the ground.

You were born of dust, and unto dust, you shall return.

You are a paradox: You are out of time, and yet you have all the time in the world. It feels like there are centuries between heartbeats; you breathe and you don’t. You are lethargic and you are buzzing with energy.

Your breath comes in choking gasps, and with each breath your energy is sapped until you cannot do anything but lie there, coughing and choking. You are running out of time, and the eternity doesn’t seem so vast.

You want nothing but to be found by your loved ones. You wish for nothing but to be held as you drown, you yearn for the warm embrace of your friends, your family, your king. You want to feel more than just cold and damp, more than the wind on your arms.

You do not want to be seen.

You are a paradox: You wish to be held by those who love you, and yet you wish they do not see you like this; dying, gasping for air, choking on water that you have long since left behind. You want to be held, and you want to be alone. 

It takes a long time to drown. 

It takes a long time for your lungs to swell up, it takes time for them to fill with fluid; it takes time to run out of oxygen. You have spent your entire life hiding, pushing yourself into expectations, lying to everyone around you. You have died on the inside a little each day, and now you are dying on the outside as well.

It takes an eternity to die.

You hear voices, yells, shouts, screams. You are out of air, your breaths come slower, your heartbeats are quieter, slower, the centuries have become an eternity. Your eyes flutter closed and your thoughts slow. You are warm in unconsciousness' embrace, lying limp in the dirt beneath you.

What if, when you drowned, you died?

And what if, when you died, you were found by those who love you?


End file.
